Unilever talks about progress in sustainability
Unilever brought together grocery industry insiders and sustainability enthusiasts alike at its Sustainable Living progress report on Tuesday.
Unilever Canada president John LeBoutillier and John Coyne, vice-president of legal and external affairs, outlined the company’s progress in 2013 while they work towards a series of sustainability goals for 2020.
LeBoutillier outlined Unilever’s three big goals for 2020: improving health and well being, reducing its environmental impact and enhancing livelihoods.
By the end 2013, 100% of Unilever’s Red Rose and Salada tea sold in Canada was sourced from Rainforest Alliance certified farms, as were all of the potatoes and onions in Unilever’s Knorr products. Unilever was also able to work with 570,000 smallholder farms last year, with plans to reach 5.5 million by 2020.
LeBoutillier pointed out Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan should not be mistaken for its corporate social responsibility.
“We want people to steal this plan,” said Coyne of Unilever’s socially driven model. “But if you steal it, you had better keep up.”
The morning’s session included a panel discussion on the role brands can play in social and environmental issues in Canada.
Panelists included Hadley Archer, executive director for TNC Canada; Philip Haid, co-founder and CEO for Public Inc; Sandra Odendahl, director of corporate sustainability for RBC, Andrew Pelletier, VP of corporate affairs and sustainability for Walmart Canada and Jostein Solheim, CEO of Ben & Jerry’s.
Authenticity became a major theme of discussion and the panelists mused about maintaining a brand that consumers will continue to trust.
“We’re on the cusp of moving from an industrial age to a human age,” said Pelletier.
Odendahl added the secret to incorporating sustainability practices into a brand is to embed such practices in a way that they're barely recognizable by the customer. In other words, green practices should become just the normal way of doing business, rather than a novelty.
While the panel agreed it would be nice for all companies to be socially driven, they said such a goal is unrealistic. Corporations need to have a business case to take steps towards social responsibility, and while Unilever has the resources to be a leader, many small-to-medium sized companies do not have such extra manpower.
Conversation eventually turned to consumer practices, inspiring several audience questions.
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a green consumer,” said Pelletier. The average shopper doesn’t have time to seek out sustainable products, which is why Walmart strives to make them readily available in the store.
“We need to apply the same sense of fun as we do
The elephant in the room, according to one attendee, was the need to reduce consumption among shoppers–"the reduce" in the three "R's" of "reduce, reuse and recycle." Customers should be encouraged to buy only what they need, limiting the amount of waste we see leaving each household, some argued.
But the panel rebutted, saying from a business perspective, the idea of “no consumption” is a negative that consumers do not respond to. Instead, companies could focus on “re-assessing consumption” to give it a positive spin.
Haid said shopping habits are so deeply engrained with consumers; companies need to take small steps to make their sustainability efforts as smooth a transition as possible.